PEORIA, Ariz.  At the plate, in the field, in seemingly every respect, they couldn’t seem more different. They even sit at opposite sides of the spring-training clubhouse.

Though he’s been a major leaguer for four years – albeit sidelined on the disabled list for large parts of each of those years – Kyle Blanks is still only 26 years old. Mark Kotsay’s been a big leaguer since he was just 21, but that was fully 16 years ago.

Though perhaps his most memorable home run as a Padres hitter was an inside-the-park scramble at Petco, Blanks clearly is built for power, as was evidenced by the ball he crushed against the Texas Rangers a couple days ago. Kotsay, who came into the majors as a fleet outfielder with a dead-accurate arm and developed into one of the game’s most utilitarian players, will soft-liner a pitcher to death with a flick of the wrists.

“I see someone like Kotsay, someone who’s absolutely mastered his craft,” said Blanks, looking across the locker room. “That’s what I want. It doesn’t matter what time of the game I come in, doesn’t matter what the guy on the mound is doing, I’m gonna do exactly what I’m gonna do.

"Kotsay does that. He’s goes up whenever and just rakes. That’s exactly what every guy in this locker room wants to do, to get to that different level where Kotsay’s already been for quite a while now. He comes out and goes 8-for-10, five hits in a row, right off the bat.”

Thing is, Blanks likewise has hit the Cactus League raking. In his first 21 at bats over a 10-game span, Blanks batted .476 and scored 10 runs, and there was a familiar pow to the sound of his solo home run. Moreover, the sacrifice fly he also struck in the same game came on a breaking ball, the sort that used to give Blanks fits.

Waiting for the pitch he wanted from no less than Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on Monday, Blanks smoked a fastball into the left-field corner and hit a full gallop to third, tying the game with his RBI triple.

“I feel comfortable pretty much every time I get in the box, and for me, that’s sometimes been the battle,” said Blanks. “Twenty-plus at bats in, it’s pretty big for me to be able to say with every one, I’ve felt like I could do something good. That’s what I want to stay on top of and maintain 162 games.”

Of course, what Blanks wants most of all is to stay on the field, something his 260-pound body simply has not allowed him to do. The sheer litany of debilitating injuries has been enough to give the intelligent Blanks a brain cramp worthy of the DL.

While it goes without saying that he’d much rather have back the thousand or more at bats he’s lost over what amounts to most of the last three seasons, Blanks said there was no small benefit to playing the sidelined observer.